Agricultural bagging machines have been employed for several years to bag or pack silage or the like into elongated plastic bags. Two of the earliest bagging machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,687,061 and 4,046,068. In the prior art bagging machines, silage or the like is supplied to the forward or intake end of the bagging machine and is fed to a rotor which conveys the silage into a tunnel on which the bag is positioned so that the bag is filled. In the prior art devices, the silage tends to bridge or clog in the hopper or intake end of the bagging machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,805 discloses a beater bar feeder arrangement for supplying the silage to the rotor and which is intended to prevent bridging or clogging of the silage in the hopper.
In the beater bar arrangement such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,805, a dangerous hazard is present due to the projections or arms extending from the rotating beater bar. Further, the rotating beater bar of U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,805 tends to throw silage particles into the air, making for a dusty condition.
Additionally, a beater bar also is inefficient due to the materials going in a circular pattern instead of straight down towards the rotor. The beater bar also does not work well with materials that are long in length (2" or longer) as those materials tend to build up on projections making a solid round ineffective mass that must be manually cleared of debris.
In the co-pending application, an improved agricultural bagging machine is disclosed which includes a vertically disposed chain feeder positioned above the rotor of the machine for conveying silage to the rotor. While the bagging machine of the co-pending application represents a significant advance in the art, the instant invention is believed to represent an improvement over the invention of the co-pending application.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved agricultural bagging machine.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an agricultural bagging machine having a first feeder positioned above the rotor of the machine for conveying silage to the rotor with the first feeder comprising a plurality of horizontally spaced and vertically disposed augers.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved agricultural bagging machine having a vertically disposed auger feeder system positioned above the rotor which provides a more efficient delivery of silage to the rotor.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an agricultural bagging machine having a plurality of vertically disposed rotatable augers positioned above the rotor with the lower ends of the augers being freely mounted so that the augers may move rearwardly, forwardly, or side-to-side in the event that the operator accidently comes into contact with the augers, thereby preventing injury to the operator.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an agricultural bagging machine which eliminates the dusty conditions normally associated with beater bar feeders in prior art agricultural bagging machines.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an agricultural bagging machine which has a plurality of rotatable augers disposed in a horizontal condition forwardly of the rotor.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an agricultural bagging machine which is economical of manufacture, durable in use and refined in appearance.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent in those skilled in the art.